Bandage



Feb. 18, 1958 TfP. DAMES ET AL 2,823,444

BANDAGE Filed 001;. 7, 1954 United States Patent O i BANDAGE Thomas Parry Davies and Denis Benedict Sullivan, Skipton, England, assignors to `lohnson & Johnson, a corporation of New Jersey Application October 7, 1954, Serial No. 460,974

13 Claims. (Cl. 28-76) This invention comprises an improved extensible bandaging material and a method of making the same. The improved bandaging material is particularly useful for holding dressings in place on the body. Although it consists of fabric which is creped, i. e. made from twisted strands which are subsequently shrunk, it is distinct from what is normally called crepe bandage yused to give support to limbs or other parts of the body.

In the production of normal crepe bandage, grey cloth is creped before slitting and rolling, and each bandage is separated by leno selvedge to leave a neat edge after slitting. Creping is generally effected by shrinking the fabric, which has been woven with twisted strands, in boiling water or strong caustic soda solution. The bandage may have up to 160% extensibility in the warp direction and little extensibility in the weft direction.

The bandage of the present invention is an elongated strip of fabric composed of kinked threads (preferably cellulosie, such as cotton or rayon) in open mesh woven structure having selvedges formed by folded over marginal portions of the strip which are anchored to maintain the selvedges in place by virtue of kinked threads thereof intermingling and intermeshing with those of the adjacent portions of the fabric upon which the folded over portions lie.

The folded over portions may be narrow as compared with the strips so that the edges thereof are well spaced apart from one another, or they may extend so that the edges are closely adjacent, or so that the folded over portions overlap one another. In the first alternative the bandage is of double thickness only at the selvedges; in the second alternative it is of double thickness substantially throughout; while in the third alternative it is wholly or partially of treble thickness.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention bandage.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view to a larger scale taken on plane 2 2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a view sim-ilar to Fig. l of a roll according to an alternate form of the invention.

The fabric for producing the bandage is woven from twisted, preferably highly twisted, threads in warp and weft and is subsequently shrunk to produce the eventual kinked threads, giving extensibilityl both longitudinally and transversely. This shrinking may be effected before or after the fabric has been cut into bandage strips.

According to one method of making the bandages of the present invention, a length of open mesh woven material, comprising twisted warp and weft yarns is cut into strips of predetermined width, and the marginal portions of the strips are folded over. Thereafter the strips are shrunk. The shrinking of the strips may be performed while they are rolled up, and to assist the shrinkage of the strip width, pressure may be applied to the ends of the roll.

in order to obtain a neat edge on the bandage, after slitting to a predetermined width, the fine bers on the cut edge may be first removed. This can be effected by passing the bandage material over a vacuum slot. The

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material is then folded over at each edge in two parallel longitudinal folds by passing the material through shaped guides thereby forming the aforementioned selved'ges. Thereupon the material is rolled into predetermined lengths upon spindles of appropriate diameter. The spindles may be split and tapered to facilitate removal of the rolls from the spindles.

The rolls may then be placed on their ends in perforated trays and the trays immersed in the shrinking solution, to be more fully described hereinafter, for a few minutes. The ends of the rolls may be pressed down to compress the bandages slightly to the desired Width. This may be accomplished simultaneously with the shrinking operation or, preferably, after removal of the trays from the shrinking solution. It has been found' that this compression gives to the bandages a neater edge than would be the case if the rolls were allowed to shrink freely. For convenience the trays holding the rolls may be tted with lids which are adapted'to move piston-wise inwardly.

After the shrinking operation the trays may be transferred to a hydro-extractor and spun to leave in the bandage about of the weight of solution, based on the weight of the bandage. Thereafter the bandage rolls are removed from the trays and dried in hot air.

As an alternative procedure an open-mesh woven fabric of twisted warp and weft yarns is shrunk in the piece in a single or multi-ply thickness and,l after drying and separating the plies (if the thickness is multi-ply), the shrunk pieces are cut into strips of the desired-width and the edges of the strips folded overemploying suitable guides and pressed down between rolls to produce substantially permanent selvedges.

According to a further feature of the invention the shrinking is effected by treatment with water containing a wetting agent. A wetting agent may be used which has antiseptic properties and is substantive to the bers of the fabric so that the bandage will have antibacterial and antifungal properties. Wetting agents having antiseptic properties include quaternary Vammonium compounds such as dialkyl dimethyl ammonium halides or alkyl phenoxyethoxyethyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium halides. An example of the former class of compound -s that known under the trade name Decquam 222,

while an example of the latter class of compound is that known by the trade name Hyamine 10X. In view of the relatively high cost of such compounds it is preferred to use non-ionic wetting agents, such as alkylarylpolyether alcohols, for example, that which is known by the trade name Lissapol NXA,7 together with a small amount of the antiseptic type of wetting agent. The aqueous bath containing the wetting agent or agents for shrinking the woven material may be at any desired temperature, preferably 40 C.-60 C.

Reference number 16 designates generally a bandage roll of open-mesh shrunk fabric according to the invention. It will be noted, particularly from Fig. 2, that the strip of fabric has many randomly kinked threads 11.

The main portion of the material is shown yat 12, and the adjacent folded narrow marginal portion at 15. Kinked threads 11 in folded portion 15 and main portion` 12 intermingle and interlock with each other so as to hold selvedge 17 in substantially permanent positionv without adhesive or other securing means. In Fig. 3 the invention bandage is formed by a main portion 2t? and integral inwardly folded marginal portions 21 and 22 having inward edges 25 and 26 which meet in the approximate center of the strip. The folded portions form with the main portion 2@ a double thickness and substantially permanent selvedged edges which are held in place by the kinkiness and interlocking of the threads, as described above. If desired, margins 2l and 22 may overlap or be tained by straightening of the kinks.

temperature.

of smaller dimension so as not to meet with each other.

Advantages of the invention from the standpoint of conformability and sufficient kinkiness of threads to form a permanent selvedge may be obtained at extensibility of at least about 20%, preferably at least about 40%, in either or both dimensions, the extensibility being ob- The bandage may, however, have up to say 100% stretch in the warp direction and up to say 100% stretch in the weft direction so as to give greater ability to conform to the contours of a patients body and enhanced properties of clinging to itself.

The mesh size of the original fabric is preferably not greater than 36 x 32 threads per inch so as to allow space between the threads for kinking to occur. As an example, the raw material used is a grey or processed plain weave 24 X 14 sett cotton gauze, with 36s cotton count warp and weft yarns which both have 32 turns per inch twist;V preferably alternate yarns or pairs of yarns have S and Z twists. Threads in the Weight range s to 50s may be used. The width of the material is chosen, having regard to the bandage widths desired, to give minimum wastage on slitting. Normal gauze yarns have only about 16 turns per inch twist. By using in the present invention high twist yarns a bandage with high extensibility is obtainable when the shrinking is effected in an aqueous solution of a wetting agent or agents as aforesaid. Of course it will be appreciated that extensibility depends not only on the twist of the yarn but also on its Weight, so that the same extensibility obtained by the use of a low weight yarn of a certain twist may be obtained by the use of a heavier yarn with a lower twist. The term twist factor takes into account weight as Well as twist and therefore it Ymay be stated that the greater the twist factor of the yarn the greater will be the extensibility of the resulting bandage.

It has been found that a satisfactory procedure for producing the desired kinky threads for purposes of the present invention is to immerse the fabric in single or multiple thickness and in the relaxed condition in a bath of 15 to 25% aqueous sodium hydroxide and wetting agent, prefer ably at about room temperature. The fabric is maintained in the bath until shrunk, which may be 5 seconds to 1 minute. It is withdrawn from the caustic bath and passed vthrough a series of purification operations, which may ini clude Washing with warm water, followed by washing with dilute acid, followed by re-washing with Water. The purified fabric is dried and the composite layers (if such are employed) separated for slitting and folding.

It has been found that an aqueous bath without caustic, r

at 40-60 C. containing one part by weight of a suitable wetting agent per 1000 parts by weight of water gives a rapid shrinkage and imparts a soft handle to the finished bandage. Other shrinking techniques involving agitation and higher temperature may be utilized.

Example I A composite web of 5 to 7 layers of approximately 14 x l0 gauze is fed continuously to a tank containing 15 to 25% aqueous caustic plus a wetting agent at room The composite web is maintained in the untensioned condition in the lengthwise and widthwise direction While in the bath. It remains in the bath for about seconds, is withdrawn continuously and passed through a pair of squeeze rolls to remove most of the liquid. The web is then carried on a continuous moving screen beneath sprays of warm water, dilute acetic acid, and warm water, respectively. The purified composite weby is again passed through a pair of rolls and thence through a drying oven. The composite web is then pintentered to uniform width and separated into its individual layers which are Wound on rolls. The full Width shrunk which are then passed through folding plows and guides `to fold the opposite edges of the strip toward the center.

Example II A 9 yard length of cotton gauze with the twisted warp and weft yarns as aforesaid is slit into strips of 71/2 Width. 1/2 of each strip is folded over at each side, and the resultant strips of 61/2 width are rolled on spindles of 1% diameter. The rolls are removed from their spindles, placed in perforated trays and then shrunk in water containing in solution, per 5000 parts by weight, 5 parts by weight of Deciquam 222 and 5 parts by weight of Lissapol NXA at 40 C. for 5 minutes. The rolls are then compressed to leave the bandages 4" wide. Thereafter the bandage rolls are hydro-extracted and dried, giving finished bandages 4" wide and 6 yards long. The average longitudinal extension is and the average transverse extension Example Ill A 9 yard length of cotton gauze, with twisted Warp and weft yarns composed of alternative pairs of S and Z twist, is slit into strips of 71/2 Width. 1/2" of each strip is folded over each side, and the resultant strips of 61/2 width are rolled on spindles of 1% diameter. The rolls are removed from their spindles placed in perforated trays, and then shrunk in water containing in solution, per 1000 parts by weight, 1 part by weight of Marinol (quaternary ammonium compound), and l part by weight of Lissapol NXA at 40 C. for 5 minutes. The bandages are then bleached by the addition of 174,5 part by weight of sodium silicate, 1,45 part by Weight of sodium carbonate, and 13 parts of vol. hydrogen peroxide solution, the temperature of the liquor being raised to boiling point. Thereafter the bandages are hydro-extracted and dried, giving finished bandages 4" wide by 6 yards long, having a good white color and possessing antiseptic properties.

Example l V A 7 yard length of cotton gauze with high twist warp and weft threads, 12 threads per inch in the warp and 8 threads per inch in the weft, is slit into strips of 16" width. 4 of each strip is folded over at each side to give a double ply strip of fabric of 8" width. The resultant strips of 8" width are rolled on spindles of 1%" diameter. The rolls are removed from their spindles placed in perforated trays and then shrunk in water containing in solution, per 5000 parts by weight, 5 parts by weight of Deciquam 222 and 5 parts by weight Lissapol NXA, at 40 C. for live minutes. Thereafter the bandages are hydro-extracted and dried, giving nished bandages of approximate dimensions 4" width and 4 yards length.

It is understood that the foregoing description is presented by way of illustratnig rather than limiting the invention, and hence it is intended that the following claims be construed as covering equivalents and modifications within the spirit of the invention.

The claims are:

l. A conforming bandage strip having an open-mesh woven structure and selvedged edges, comprising a main portion and integral inwardly folded marginal portions of said strip, forming with the main portion of said strip edges of double thickness, individual threads of said folded portion and the adjacent main portion being kinked in random manner, the kinked threads intermingling and interlocking with threads in the adjacent portion, said portions being held together by said kinked threads to form a substantially permanent selvedge in said strip.

that the edges thereof are well spaced apart from one another.

3. A conforming bandage strip having an open-mesh woven cellulosic structure and selvedged edges, comprising a main portion and integral inwardly folded marginal portions of said strip meeting in the approximate center of said strip, said folded portions forming with the main portion of said strip a double thickness, individual threads of said folded portion and the adjacent main portion being kinked in random manner due to prior shrinking of said bandage, the bandage, by reason of said kinks, being extensible in at least one dimension, the kinked threads intermingling and interlocking with threads in the radjacent portion, said portions being held together by said kinked threads to form a substantially permanent selvedge in said strip.

4. A product according to claim 3 made of cotton and having at least stretch in the warp and in the weft directions.

5. The method of producing a selvedged conforming bandage from a strip which is shrinkable and has openmesh structure of woven twisted threads which comprises folding inwardly opposite marginal portions of said strip in close contact with the main portion and toward the center thereof, thereby forming edges of double thickness, and subjecting said strip to shrinking conditions, said steps being carried out in any available sequence, causing individual threads of said folded portion and the adjacent main portion to kink in random manner and thereby interlock with threads in the adjacent por-- tion, whereby said portions are held together by said kinked threads to form a substantially permanent selvedge in said strip.

6. The method of producing a selvedged conforming bandage from a strip which is shrinkable and 'has openmesh structure of woven twisted threads which comprises folding inwardly opposite marginal portions of said strip in close contact with the main portion and toward the center thereof, thereby forming edges of double thickness, and thereafter subjecting said strip to shrinking conditions, causing individual threads of said folded portion and the adjacent main portion to kink in random manner and thereby interlock with threads in the adjacent portion, whereby said portions are held together by said kinked threads to form a substantially permanent selvedge in said strip.

7. A method of making a conforming bandage according to claim 6 in which the cut and folded fabric is shrunk whilst rolled up.

8. The method of producing a selvedged conforming bandage from a strip which is shrinkable and has openmesh structure of woven cellulosic threads having twist greater than 16 turns per inch length, and mesh not greater than 36 X 32 threads per inch, which comprises folding inwardly opposite marginal portions of said strip in close contact with the main portion and toward the center thereof, thereby forming edges of double thickness, and subjecting said strip to shrinking conditions in an aqueous liquid, said steps being carried out in any available sequence, causing individual threads of said folded portion and the adjacent main portion to kink in random manner and thereby interlock with threads in the adjacent portion and produce a fabric having at least 20% stretch in the warp and weft directions, whereby said portions are held together by said kinked threads to form a substantially permanent selvedge in said strip.

9. A method of making a conforming bandage according to claim 8 in which alternate yarns or pairs of yarns of the woven fabric have S and Z twists.

10. A method of making a conforming bandage according to claim 8 in which shrinking is elfected by treatment with aqueous caustic containing a wetting agent.

11. A method of making a conforming bandage according to claim 10 in which the wetting agent has bactericidal properties.

12. The method of producing a selvedged conforming bandage which comprises folding inwardly marginal portions of an elongated strip of open-mesh fabric to produce edges of double thickness, said fabric having randomly kinked threads produced by shrinking thereof, and pressing said folded marginal portion against the main portion of the strip to cause said kinked threads of said folded and the adjacent main portions to interlock, thereby to hold said selvedge in substantially permanent position.

13. The method of producing a selvedged conforming bandage which comprises folding inwardly marginal portions of an elongated strip of open-mesh woven cotton fabric to produce edges of double thickness as compared with the center of the strip, said fabric having randomly kinked threads produced by shrinking thereof and stretch at least 20% in the warp and weft directions, and pressing said folded marginal portion against the main portion of the strip to cause said kinked threads of said folded and the adjacent main portions to interlock, thereby to hold said selvedge in substantially permanent position.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 745,028 Toles Nov. 24, 1903 1,089,857 Muller Mar. 10, 1914 1,986,491 Wilson Jan. 1, 1935 2,211,841 Voegeli Aug. 20, 1940 2,215,938 :Schonholzer Sept. 24, 1940 2,330,645 Voegeli Sept. 28, 1943 2,404,837 Goldthwait July 30, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 140,339 Australia Feb. 27, 1951 

